


Mythology of Grief

by SheepOh



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Demon Deals, Fix-It, M/M, Post Miracle Day, Post Season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1933377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheepOh/pseuds/SheepOh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Harkness comes back to Earth on Ianto's death anniversary and meets a cute, but strange, man in a Pub.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mythology of Grief

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to Madasatimelord for giving me the idea and for bearing with me and reviewing and helping me edit it numerous times. You were my strength and my motivation I wouldn't have been able to do it without you.

It was that awful time of the year again, Ianto’s death anniversary. Jack had been away from Earth for a little while, taking vacations, in a way. This planet had let him meet and bond with so many wonderful people, just to take almost all of them away soon after and it had left him with too many bitter feelings. It didn’t really feel like a home anymore and so, after taking care of Rex Matheson’s small immortality problem the year before, he had decided to take a break from it. He was back here now, in a pub Ianto used to enjoy going to, especially when there was a big rugby match on. Even though he absolutely hadn’t looked like the sportive kind and had never let it show, the welsh boy had thoroughly followed his team. He even used to set hid recorder every time they played, in case he wouldn’t be able to watch a game because of work.

As he sipped his beer, Jack let a small nostalgic smile tug at his lips, remembering his lover had gotten up and yelled at the screen. He was always full of surprises, that one. Three years had passed since he had died in his arms and the emptiness his disappearance had left hadn’t faded even one bit. He would really remember him for a thousand years ‘’and even more’’, he thought as he kept drinking, staring blankly at the wall in front of him.

‘’A scotch, please’’ a young man asked sitting down on a stool at the bar.

It took the Captain a couple of seconds to realise someone had sat next to him and a couple more to realise it was a pretty good looking someone.

The man was a bit shorter than Jack and a lot slimmer but still had enough muscle to look like a capable grown man and not an awkward still growing teenage boy. He had dark hair that were starting to look like they needed to be cut, they were falling a little low on his forehead for his taste, he usually liked it better when foreheads were exposed, and blue eyes of a shade similar to Ianto’s, maybe only slightly darker. The look in them was a bit harder though, not as innocent or trusting. All that mixed together made him look just mysterious enough to be attractive without looking like a douchebag or clichéd.

‘’Isn’t it still a bit early for something that strong?’’, he asked looking at him only from the corner of an eye.

‘’Well, there are days like these, I guess. Isn’t it still a bit early to be drunk?’’

It is true that it was early, only about 11 am, the rush of workers coming for lunch would start soon, but he wasn’t that drunk. He hadn’t been there long enough to be and had avoided anything stronger than beer. He had downed the first few ones pretty quickly and was almost done with that one, the first he had actually tasted.

He didn’t drink a lot anymore. He had stopped while he’d waited for the Doctor, had taken a habit of only drinking water to stay hydrated and be ready to go at any moment. Once that issue had been settled, he had still been in charge of Torchwood Three, been responsible for his team’s safety, still had to be ready to take decisions and actions at any moment, day or night. His body was still accustomed to his old lifestyle though, the one he had led as a con man and so, only a couple of beers, no matter the speed of consumption, couldn’t affect him much, but that guy was too cute for him to argue.

‘’Well, there are days like these, I guess. Captain Jack Harkness, by the way.’’, he said turning towards him and holding out his hand.

‘’Malphas’’, the other answered shaking it but not turning to face him.

‘’No family name? I see we like to be a bit mysterious. I guess that can be kinda sexy’’, he said with his usual flirty grin.

That made the other laugh softly his eyes still fixed on his drink. When he looked back up at him, the Captain could tell he was already half in his pants. He was practically batting his pretty eyelashes at him. It hadn’t been his intention but the occasion being right there he wouldn’t just let it go. And so, they kept, drinking, talking, flirting until they were both highly intoxicated.

Jack woke up a few hours later in a cheap motel room. He sat up, stretched a bit and looked around. He hoped he hadn’t slept too long because this was clearly the kind of room you paid for by the hour and he didn’t have a lot of Earth currencies anymore. This reflection woke his brain enough for him to remember how he had got here.

He had drank, a lot, with the cute guy and he had gotten emotional and started talking about Ianto. He guessed he had been really lucky that day because it hadn’t scared Malphas away, and really what kind of name was that anyway.

‘’I just wish I could have him back, you know? He was way too young. He should’ve had so much more time. I miss him…I wish I could just bring him back to life and let him live the life he should’ve, have the time he should’ve had. It’s all my fault’’, he had told the poor guy.

‘’Yeah, I kinda understand the feeling.’’

‘’Oh yeah? Lost someone too?’’

He had nodded. ‘’When I was young. We were careless, playing around. It happened so fast. We didn’t see, didn’t really pay attention and it cost him his life, my little brother.’’

‘’I’m sorry.’’

‘’It’s fine, it was long ago, but the feeling stays. You just feel that if you could bring him back you’d be more than willing to pay for that.’’

‘’And a big price if it’s to make it all right again.’’

‘’You seem like a good bloke, Malphas said after a silence, maybe I could let you in on a little secret of mine.’’

‘’Not that much of a secret if you’re willing to tell it to the first guy that comes your way’’

The young man had glared at him but went on anyway.

‘’I’m serious. I could make it happen, fix it for you.’’

‘’Oh yeah?’’, Jack had asked, raising an eyebrow disbelievingly.

‘’But of course, all good things come with a price.’’

‘’And this ain’t the exception that makes the rule.’’

‘’Don’t worry. It’s not such a big price. You just do me a little favour and then you live happily for the rest of your life.’’

‘’What’s that then?’’

‘’Put those gorgeous lips of yours on mine.’’

Jack hadn’t hesitate. He’d only flashed him a suggestive grin before kissing him fiercely.

After that, they’d begun going further, kissing more deeply, touching, clutching, grasping and accompanying the gestures with noises, which, with the increasing flow of customers, were starting to attract attention. Jack didn’t mind, he was way too drunk and too angry today to care about other people’s opinion, but the owner and a couple of big guys in the far back of the pub didn’t seem to agree with that thought. So, after a few glares from the earlier and after the laters’ volume had increased enough for them to hear their voices slightly too clearly, they’d finally decided to get a room. They had teased enough anyway.

Malphas had pretty much left right after they’d had sex, which Jack was grateful for. It had felt good to have company and to create a kind of link with someone, but now, he needed some time on his own.  
There was no time to linger around though. His vortex manipulator was flashing all sorts of colours, meaning there was an emergency somewhere. After playing with it for a while, he was able to learn that it was at that new place he had found to keep what was left of Torchwood’s bodies and goodies after the Hub had been blown up three years ago. Life signs had been detected for a few hours now in the morgue section. His heart skipped a long beat. He knew it was ridiculous to even think of it as a possibility, but he had seen some ridiculous things turn out to be real. He had been thinking about him every single second of this day, even while he was with Malphas, hell he might’ve called him Ianto, so it wasn’t a surprise his mind had automatically gone to him. That was, after all, the last place he had seen him in and he was the last person he had seen before leaving Earth. It had been more than a year after his death but he still had that need to say goodbye even if it was only to a cold corpse, as he didn’t know if he could ever see it again. He came back to the planet every year and talked to him, to his empty grave but never went back to that dreadful room full of bodies. The question couldn’t help but be there, ‘’What if…?’’.

It wouldn’t be answered by him standing there, naked, in the middle of a motel room. And whatever it was, it needed to be taken care of. Some pretty dangerous things were kept in there. He quickly threw his clothes on and rushed in the car he had rented for the day, not even bothering to check out first.

Despite the incredible and definitely illegal speed at which he was driving, the car didn’t seem to ever go fast enough. It’s his years of dangerous driving who allowed him to avoid killing anybody, including himself, on the way to the underground facility. The contrast of the dark parking and corridors leading to the room itself was enough to make you stop and blink a few times. It was giving off one of those weird horror movie vibe but it was almost blindingly bright.Three of its walls were covered by metallic drawers. The fourth and last one, holding the door was painted in white, as the ceiling, from where big flickering neon lights hung, was.

He had to lean against the wall as he found out which drawer was causing the disturbance, his knees almost failing him. It couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t. He took a deep breath, pulled the drawer open and unzipped the body bag, uncovering the face in it, Ianto’s face. A tear rolled down his cheek. He ran his hand on his cold face, through his hair and, after a few sobs, proceeded to unfreeze him. As, many awfully long moments later, he opened his eyes, Jack’s knees really did fail him this time. He ungracefully landed on his rear in a loud thump, his back hitting the metallic wall and his hands the floor. He stayed there, as if glued, for a while, alternating between deep breaths, sobs and incoherent murmurs. He managed to get back up slowly, wiping his eyes with the back of a hand, and whispered softly the Welsh boy’s name, resting the other hand on his cheek.

‘’It’s me, Jack. Can you remember me Ianto? Is it really you?’’

The, as of now, still blank and even a bit confused look on his face slowly started to turn to a reassured one and melt the captain down. He laid his head on his chest and cried as one of Ianto’s hand went in his hair, rubbed his scalp.

‘’Oh Ianto, Ianto I’ve missed you so much. Ianto, my Ianto I needed you so. Is it really you? Are you really back to me? Ianto, Ianto…’’, he kept on repeating between heavy sobs, while the young man weakly called his name, shushed, told him not to cry anymore, that it was alright.

For three years, that’s what he had needed, for Ianto to be here with him, to hold him, to console him. He needed him, only him, still did. So he held onto his shirt, held onto him, as hard as he could, as if nothing could ever make him let go. Maybe nothing would.

**Author's Note:**

> This story will possibly have more chapters. I still have some ideas and some bits of writing I really wanna squeeze in but I need to put some order in it. Also, I'm a writer that needs constant supervision and encouragements in order to work.


End file.
